Worldwide Mac Sales Remain Steady in 4Q 2016 Amid Continuing PC Market Decline

[PBRsg]

The PC/Mac market will continue to fall as the "average" user (eg those with no interest in technology at all, but obviously everyone needs to use the internet) just use their phones for everything. A large majority of people I know on Twitter only every use their phone for all their computing needs, they have a laptop which is opened once every couple of months - they're not even on tablets, just phones.

It's alien to me, someone who spends 10+ ours a day on a Mac and rarely uses my phone for anything but thats what "the man in the street" is doing.

I am in exactly the same position where I am always on my MacBook and do not use my iPhone much at all. When some Android people tell me that they cannot use an iPhone because it does not let them do X, Y and Z, my response is that I do those things on a laptop running a proper OS.

 

[fokmik]

i wonder how macs would be now, if Apple could updated also the mac mini/imac and mac pro in October 2016

 

[8692574]

Most misleading headline ever! Seems like HP and Dell have higher growth than Apple!

How is it misleading?

Worldwide Mac Sales Remain Steady in 4Q 2016 Amid Continuing PC Market Decline

TOTAL PC market - 3.7 hence PC market declining

Apple + 2.4

Apple is steady while the market (general not 1 manufacturer) is decliing...

Seems fair to me!

 

[chr1s60]

I don't think we will ever see growth like we have seen over the past decade or so. It seems like more and more of the general consumer population are sticking with their phones or a tablet for all their computer needs. Outside of students and people who work from home, there is a smaller and smaller need for an actual computer every year. There will always be a need for certain professions and hobbies people may have, but to the general person who uses mostly internet and email, there is not much need for a computer anymore.

 

[Applebot1]

Just think what Apple could achieve if its Mac business was offloaded onto a separate company that actually cared about the product and updated the Mac Mini, the Mac Pro and the Macbook Air.

I have upgrade money burning a hole in my pocket but I won't be spending it on the Macbook Pro.

I agree this update just doesn't justify those prices. Apple have called this totally wrong. Beautiful made machines though.

 

[ghost187]

I've been in the market for 3 mac minis and a MacBook "Pro" for over 2 years. But, my money along with millions of others are not good enough for Apple.

 

[decafjava]

Well I just added to Mac sales with my new iMac (don't care about the Kaby Lake or whatever processors) very happy with my purchase so far.

 

[tech3475]

The PC/Mac market will continue to fall as the "average" user (eg those with no interest in technology at all, but obviously everyone needs to use the internet) just use their phones for everything. A large majority of people I know on Twitter only every use their phone for all their computing needs, they have a laptop which is opened once every couple of months - they're not even on tablets, just phones.

It's alien to me, someone who spends 10+ ours a day on a Mac and rarely uses my phone for anything but thats what "the man in the street" is doing.

I think the stagnation of technology is a big reason, for casual browsing 5 year old laptops can still be usable unlike in the past where people may have started thinking about upgrading after that length of time.

 

[SSDGUY]

I'll apply it only to product lines that make up less than 2% of their revenue.

Make the following thought experiment: Assume, Apple had never introduced the iPhone. Would we complain about Apple as much as we do now (we still would complain about other things)?

Apply it to whatever you want. It still makes no sense.

 

[MarsViolet]

The PC/Mac market will continue to fall as the "average" user (eg those with no interest in technology at all, but obviously everyone needs to use the internet) just use their phones for everything. A large majority of people I know on Twitter only every use their phone for all their computing needs, they have a laptop which is opened once every couple of months - they're not even on tablets, just phones.

It's alien to me, someone who spends 10+ ours a day on a Mac and rarely uses my phone for anything but thats what "the man in the street" is doing.

You actually do stuff. The “man in the street” doesn’t do anything. That’s why they can do it all with a phone. Their “everything” is nothing. And those people are Apple’s ideal customers. Do squat. Make no demands. Upgrade often.

 

[jovada]

Just think what Apple could achieve if its Mac business was offloaded onto a separate company that actually cared about the product.

To me it looks like it's time for a company like OnePlus to take over the premium computer market. It's amazing what they did to the smartphone market.
[doublepost=1484208879][/doublepost]

Apple's U.S. Market Share Trend: 1Q06-4Q16 (Gartner)​

That trend line... The decline is near!

 

[SarcasticJoe]

Looks like HP, Lenovo and Dell are also doing well. Despite new MacBook Pros, Apple have only managed 1% increase in marketshare.

Dell have just introduced Kaby Lake laptops, so in the same period, Dell had older laptops.

While, online orders for MacBook Pro 2016 may have broken *online* sale records, in store sales must be slower.

My guess would be that it's just that everything else in Apple's Mac lineup is selling slower than last year and the new MBP making up for it and then some. I can't imagine ether the Mac Pro or the Mac Mini picking up any steam this year seeing how they haven't been updated since 2013 and 2014 respectively.

Still, it's pretty clear Apple has had their engineering workforce spend a bigger part of their time working on iDevices than Macs and it's not even the first time they've neglected Macs. OSX 10.5 got delayed by several months when Jobs moved engineers over to working on the original iPhone to avoid it missing the promised launch window. In 2009 Jobs even personally admitted that Apple had neglected the Mac and in an attempt to make up for this had the whole "Back to the Mac" keynote when they introduced a bunch of new Mac stuff.

I know Apple is known to employ a rather small engineering workforce compared to other companies of it's size, but with this many products to support they need to ether drop some products or hire a lot more engineers to properly support everything they're making.

When you actually look at the general computing landscape and where Apple sits on it, this over-focus on iDevices does actually make quite a bit of sense. Apple was never able to become a truly big player in the desktop space after Microsoft gained dominance, but when mobile computing with tablets and smartphones got really big Apple made sure they had a front row seat to it and ended up with the kind of market share they haven't enjoyed in the desktop market since the early 80s. You could argue that it's the same thing as what happened when they got into portable music players with the original iPod.

I haven't bought because the new affordable portables are only a little or no faster than my 2011 MBP with an SSD And max ram.

I want a Retina display, but not at these pro prices.

I'm much the same. Because of that I've been looking into a second hand 2012-2014 model.

 

[sudo1996]

Geez, what happened to Asus?
[doublepost=1484209648][/doublepost]

My Condolences - Dell has always made garbage computers and their new ones are no exception.

I was part of the Lenovo chart - bought a Yoga 710 after Christmas. Then HP came out with the new Spectre x360 and I returned the Lenovo and am waiting on that. Now that's how you do a computer - congrats HP.

I've always seen that Dells are alright and that HP and Lenovo are the absolute worst. And Dell's servers are better than HP's too.
[doublepost=1484209689][/doublepost]

I don't think we will ever see growth like we have seen over the past decade or so. It seems like more and more of the general consumer population are sticking with their phones or a tablet for all their computer needs. Outside of students and people who work from home, there is a smaller and smaller need for an actual computer every year. There will always be a need for certain professions and hobbies people may have, but to the general person who uses mostly internet and email, there is not much need for a computer anymore.

There's plenty need for everyone to have a PC, and everyone does have a PC or two, but there's no need to keep buying new ones now that they're all fast enough. "Nobody" has lacked RAM or CPU power since 2012.

 

[craig1410]

I clicked on the comments for this article fully expecting that the doom-mongers will be hard at work and was not disappointed. Clearly this little sprinkling of positivity causes some of you pain!

I particularly enjoyed reading the amazing theories about how the 1.4m gains made by the top 3 must have come from Apple despite the fact this makes no numerical sense. Coupled with the fact Apple too made gains and Asus and 'Others' made large loses, perhaps 'consolidation' would be a more accurate conclusion here.

Anyway, as an owner of a new 15" MBP with touch bar which I use daily for professional development work, on a single battery charge no less, I am very happy with the state of the Mac. Room for improvement? Of course but this is still by a long way the best laptop I can buy from any vendor for the job I love doing.

 

[Larry-K]

While it is de rigueur to blame Tim Cook, Steve Jobs also said he would "milk the Mac for all it was worth and then move on to the next thing". And considering how proud he was of the iPhone and the iPad, I imagine he felt those were "the next big thing", just as Tim appear to do.

So we might be in the same place if he had not passed on.

Well, Sadly for Steve, the next big thing was the last big thing.

As for Tim and the rest of the stooges, After seeing their smug faces and salaries listed last week (okay, Angela needs really needs the money for all that Photoshopping), It just puts a face on all the stupidity pouring out of Cupertino in recent times, not just the brain-dead upgrades they've been churning out; I'm not a good enough typist to go through the litany before my bedtime.

By the way, love Seattle, Go Hawks!

 

[mw360]

With the top vendors posting gains, and the smaller ones making big losses it looks to me like the bottom falling out of the market. Users looking for a tiny budget laptop for email and Facebook are turning to tablets, or are finding their ever-expanding phone screens cover all their needs.

Unfortunately this would make Apple's strategy of chasing only the big spenders, somewhat correct.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Just because the iPad can't replace YOUR computer doesn't mean it can't for anyone. I love gadgets and love the Mac but at the end of the day I don't do my career at my computer so yes, for me, an iPad has completely replaced any other computer as my primary device for 95% of my home use. Having a need that is different from yours isn't ludicrous. Posts like this remind me why it's a damn good thing Cook is in charge and not some tech enthusiasts on a forum. You grossly exaggerate the problems with Apple and completely ignore the many benefits of apples products, services, and support that keep customers buying more of their gadgets.

I agree, and I do use my computer to earn a living.

It all boils down to entitlement. More more more, me me me, without stopping to think for a few moments.

 

[chr1s60]

Just because the iPad can't replace YOUR computer doesn't mean it can't for anyone. I love gadgets and love the Mac but at the end of the day I don't do my career at my computer so yes, for me, an iPad has completely replaced any other computer as my primary device for 95% of my home use. Having a need that is different from yours isn't ludicrous. Posts like this remind me why it's a damn good thing Cook is in charge and not some tech enthusiasts on a forum. You grossly exaggerate the problems with Apple and completely ignore the many benefits of apples products, services, and support that keep customers buying more of their gadgets.

Well said. I think the general consumer has continued to lose the need for a desktop or laptop computer. Many right now still have old computers that they bought years ago, but for the most part, unless you are a student, use the PC for work, or have a hobby that involves specific tasks that require a computer, it would be hard to justify buying a new one. You could make the argument that certain laptops and desktops can be had cheaper than a iPad or some other tablets, but they don't match the portability aspect. This is what technology does. It creates things for us that we never thought we would need and over time diminishes the need for that product and replaces it with a new one. Over the next 5-10 years I think we will only see PC sales continue to drop outside of the business and education industries.
[doublepost=1484212463][/doublepost]

There's plenty need for everyone to have a PC, and everyone does have a PC or two, but there's no need to keep buying new ones now that they're all fast enough. "Nobody" has lacked RAM or CPU power since 2012.

Curious as to what reason you would give a general consumer that no longer has a functioning computer to buy a new one if they already own an iPhone/Smartphone and/or an iPad/tablet? By general consumer I am talking about someone who browses the internet, uses email, and has basic photo/video/music use that doesn't include advanced editing.

 

[DevNull0]

i wonder how macs would be now, if Apple could updated also the mac mini/imac and mac pro in October 2016

I think they were planning to release a new thinner mac mini, but one of the engineers dropped the prototype and it landed on its edge and sliced through the floor and fell to the center of the Earth.

Timmy wasn't too upset though, he said it was still to thick to release anyway.

I hear Samsung is going to copy the design, but it's their kitchen appliance division that's going to use it as a blade in their new food processor.

 

[alexgowers]

I think most of the changes in computing have been slowdowns in moore's law. We've reached a technological limit with die shrinking where desktop computers really have nothing more to give in the same wafer area. This has let mobile chips catch up. This means that new mobile devices outperform laptops from a few years ago and new laptops show no perceivable difference in normal people tasks.

We've reached a point where things run fast across the board and we no longer need to reach for new products anymore to get the basics done.

For the last 10 years we've seen such massive shifts in personal computing but we are now settling down again, in my eyes apple can only compete long term with the current monopoly of windows by licensing their OS's to other vendors. We've seen a much slower pace of change in the past too.

I suspect breakthroughs will now come in fits and starts as design of chips and processes improve rather than die shrinking.

The hot period apple was having is over now, they grabbed a massive share but I don't have much hope they can keep it based on their current business model. Locking users into services does work if they're free but people tend to reject over time if they can't afford it.

 

[DevNull0]

Curious as to what reason you would give a general consumer that no longer has a functioning computer to buy a new one if they already own an iPhone/Smartphone and/or an iPad/tablet? By general consumer I am talking about someone who browses the internet, uses email, and has basic photo/video/music use that doesn't include advanced editing.

Curious why you think a general consumer should use a 5-10" screen with no keyboard or mouse/trackpad as their primary device for basic email, internet browsing, light photo editing and watching videos.

Sure when you're out doing stuff you're not going to lug something bigger than you can fit in a purse/pocket so you'll make compromises and smartphones/tablets are great. But at home? Really?

 

[otternonsense]

Just because the iPad can't replace YOUR computer doesn't mean it can't for anyone. I love gadgets and love the Mac but at the end of the day I don't do my career at my computer so yes, for me, an iPad has completely replaced any other computer as my primary device for 95% of my home use. Having a need that is different from yours isn't ludicrous. Posts like this remind me why it's a damn good thing Cook is in charge and not some tech enthusiasts on a forum. You grossly exaggerate the problems with Apple and completely ignore the many benefits of apples products, services, and support that keep customers buying more of their gadgets.

I'm not negating your use case, your highness. The fact remains that iPad is not the potent workstation replacement Cook &co present it to be. The hardware is there, granted. To me, it all falls flat with iOS -what is ludicrous is to feature the exact same functionality, spatial arrangement and lite apps between a 4.7" phone and a 12" behemoth tablet. Should it run OS X, or at least a variant of it, I'd have jumped on this bandwagon long ago.

 

[bax2003]

HP ZBook laptops are fantastic !

 

[Ladybug]

Wait for the new XPS 15 Kaby Lake. Not out yet, but will be soon and it looks sweet.
[doublepost=1484182157][/doublepost]


Apparently you are the one that buys the $199 Dell models. You apparently haven't bought any Dell computers in the past few years, so you really shouldn't give an opinion about something you know nothing about. The last few years the Dell XPS line has been award winning. I have sold all my clients Dell portables and desktops for over 10 years (exclusively) and they have been very, very reliable.

My condolences to you for either making poor choices or having extremely bad luck.

I have to echo your experience concerning Dell computers. My last one lasted only 7 years, however my home flooded in August 2016 and the XPS desktop I was using for games took on about 6 inches of water. It dried out for a month and continued to work for 2 more months. I knew it would eventually fail due to water damage but that's no fault of Dell.

In need of something to run a few light games on, I got rid of my MBP and made the full transition back over to the PC. My new XPS runs just great, no problems whatsoever. The only Apple products left in the house is an older MBP my husband uses for email, 2 iPhones, and an iPad.

All future laptops will be PC only. Will likely stick with my iPhone and iPad until they break at which time we will re-evaluate our needs. I do believe Apple is in danger of pricing itself out existence if they aren't careful.

 

[Dave245]

I'm not negating your use case, your highness. The fact remains that iPad is not the potent workstation replacement Cook &co present it to be. The hardware is there, granted. To me, it all falls flat with iOS -what is ludicrous is to feature the exact same functionality, spatial arrangement and lite apps between a 4.7" phone and a 12" behemoth tablet. Should it run OS X, or at least a variant of it, I'd have jumped on this bandwagon long ago.

It's not meant to be a workstation replacement, it's meant to be a PC replacement for the average user. Look at what the average user does with a PC for example, browsing the web, watching videos, listening to music, shopping, maybe a little word processing, in that case the iPad Pro is more than enough to replace that individuals PC. Now for power users, of course the iPad Pro isn't yet going to replace their Mac's or PC's. Apple have said a number of times that they have not interest in doing a hybrid iPad and or touchscreen Mac, they have already said it a number of times and people still won't accept it, so you can't really blame them for that. In my opinion the Mac and the iPad are two separate products that should never be combined and neither should IOS and MacOS.